


Knives on Shoes

by Oparu



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 12:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9440336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oparu/pseuds/Oparu
Summary: Emma teaches Killian to ice skate one frigid night. Character fluff.





	

**Author's Note:**

> for Kdanna03 for her birthday.

The wind blows cold and it feels like Minnesota. Emma pulls her scarf higher and keeps her head down. She walks from car to house, car to office, and car to car, always head down against the wind. It's so cold that the winter is a force, gnawing at her like a physical beast, and the only faces she's seen without scarves over them are Maleficent and Lily's, but that's cheating. Being fire incarnate isn't something everyone can just do. 

She drops Henry off at Regina's and he waves quickly before running inside to his other mom and the warm fire. Only Regina's hand waving is visible because the door opens and shuts so quickly. The wind's calmed down a little. It's still frigid. So cold that ice forms on the windows and she has long underwear on beneath her jeans and the pond is frozen on her way home. They'd scraped part of it clear of snow for skating. A little crooked square where everyone had skated around. 

She'd watched them, nostalgic for a childhood she'd never had as she watched parents and siblings skate together. 

She'd skated alone: to get out of the house because it was one of the few things that was free and close by that they'd let her just go do. 

The wind has blown all the snow away and the pond lies smooth and glassy, like a mirror set in the snow. Emma stops the bug, leaves it running and runs over across the crunchy snow. It's still fucking freezing, but it's all empty. The whole pond shines back at her, the moon reflected in the darkness, and it could be hers, soft and silent and still. 

She drives home, digs through the chest full of shoes she doesn't wear often enough and finds her skates. She bought them in New York, for skating rinks in the middle of town full of people, and Henry. 

She kisses Killian on the cheek and heads for the door, leaving him to his book and cup of tea. 

Emma throws her skates over her shoulder and stops. She can run off by herself, have the moment. She sits on the chair across from him, skates on the floor. Emma unzips her coat. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Accompany you to whatever horrible place that requires shoes with knives? No." He doesn't even look up from his book, playing with her. He sips his tea and it's just so British, like Downton Abbey British, that she chuckles. 

"Ice skating." 

"I know ice." He closes the book, but keeps his fingers around his tea. "Nasty stuff." 

"It's fun when you're skating." 

"Because mixing knives with ice sounds brilliant, Swan." He finishes his tea and sets down the cup. "I can't do this skating thing, nor do I have skates." 

She concentrates, thinking of the skates she wants as if she's just buying them off the internet. Emma pictures the laces, the way they cross in the leather, and the blades, then they appear at his feet. "You'll need a hat, and a scarf." 

"It's as cold as the lowest layer of hell and you want to go outside to attack the pond with knives on your feet."

Emma bounces to her feet and smiles. "With you!" She puts her arms around her shoulders. "That's the important part."

"I can't do this skating thing, love." 

"I'll teach you." 

He rolls his eyes. "Now you sound like your mother. Hope when facing an insurmountable task." 

Tugging him towards the doorway, she kisses him. "Thanks for being willing to freeze." 

"Anything for you, love." It's sarcastic and not, and they talk about how she learned to skate in the car. One of her foster sisters taught her with a chair, and she pushed that around the ice until she got it. 

She doesn't know what happened to Sara, where she went after that home, and Killian squeezes her head before they stop and put on mittens. He left the hook at home, because in the cold it's uncomfortable, and Emma realizes then, getting out of the car with her skates, that falling's a lot scarier with only one hand. 

The wind's gone down, but the still night air is cold enough to make the inside of her nose freeze together. They share a look over scarves and only their eyes can smile. 

"Thanks." 

"Of course." 

They sit on the fallen tree, moon overhead, and Emma's fingers protest how cold her laces are, and then they're half frozen by the time she's gotten his on. She stands first, swirling around the lake, like she's flying. She'll have to ask Lily if they're similar feelings. Emma crosses her legs over, picking up speed on the corner and then she's back at him. 

"You look beautiful like that." Killian doesn't stand, the knives on his feet have made him nervous. 

Emma offers her hands. "Thanks." 

He takes her hand with his, and his arm rests on her chest. They stumble onto the ice, letting go of the log and safety and they stand there, alone in the silent snow. All she can see is his eyes and the fear fades to wonderful, and affection. They're alone in the universe, as isolated as the moon. She's felt like that, craved it, wanted to run away from everything and everyone, hide from her responsibilities. 

They stumble.

Laugh. 

Fall, him dragging her down, her losing her balance, and the ice is hard like stone beneath them. 

Her knee will bruise. So might his hip, but eventually, they make a circle. Then another. He stands on his own and she spins away, skating backwards, trying to remember if she knows how to do that little turn. 

She skates back, returning like the swan. He nuzzles her through his scarf, and she pulls hers down. The kiss quickly, dry lips in the cold, but they grin at teach other. 

He looks up, then down at her, eyes full of the moon. "Skating's not too terrible."

"I loved it, once."

"And now?" His mitten touches her cheek. 

"I love you." 

He raises his eyebrows playfully. "And skating."

"Yeah, I think--" Emma shivers and shuts her eyes. She can hear the silence, friendly and beckoning, and when she opens her eyes again, she sees him, imagines him and Henry, her parents, Regina, Belle and the baby, Ella, even Lily and Maleficent all around them. With him in the center, that doesn't seem so bad. 

"I used to want the stillness," she says, skating in slow circles with him. He's still a little shaky, but they hold hands, and she's steady for both of them. "Just being alone where no one cared what I was doing, and I wasn't wrong for being in the wrong place."

"Unwanted."

"Yeah." 

She pushes away from him, remembering how to turn. Emma offers her hands and skates backwards while he skates towards her. "Now everyone wants me. I'm the savior." 

"Makes the open sea sound pleasing, doesn't it?"

She chuckles and nods. "Yeah. You, me and the kid, that's something, and then my parents, the little guy, Regina--"

"Your family is large, love, not traditional." 

"And I love them too."

"I know." 

She stops, and they skate into each other gently, face to face. "I'm glad I have you, though. You're the quiet part." 

He kisses her, warmer than her breath. "I love you." He kisses her nose and smirks. "Even with your family." 

"We're kind of a thing, the most twisted family tree you've ever seen." 

Killian laughs again, wobbling on his skates. "True, but it's not bad." 

"It's crowded."

"But quiet." He offers his hand again and they skate until her toes are numb. 

Back home, Killian dumps rum in her hot chocolate with cinnamon and she texts Henry good night while they curl up in front of the TV. 

And it's quiet. Peaceful. She kisses his neck and pats his shoulder. "We can count bruises later." 


End file.
